Gannetwhale
|name = Gannetwhale|kingdom = Animalia |phylum = Chordata |class = Aves |order = Suliformes}} The '''gannetwhale' is a species of very large semiaquatic flightless bird native to the North Sea and the coasts of the North European Ice in 5 million AD. Descended from gannets, they fill the niches of animals like small toothed whales. Evolution , was a semi-aquatic flying bird.]] Gannetwhales are descended from the northern gannet (Morus bassanus). Gannets were unique among seabirds in that, when hunting fish, they dived below water and swims with its wings. This behaviour, with its necessary adaptations, perfectly positioned the gannet to take advantage of the extinction of the marine mammals and fill absent niches. Their wings have become shorter, like flippers, and their feet have become "rudders". Biology About the size of a male walrus, gannetwhales have a very different physiology to their aerial ancestors, resembling pinnipeds more than anything else, although they retain their long beaks. Unable to fly, their wings have evolved into stubby paddles similar to fins, which help them in swimming. Their feet are used as rudders. Although it may not look like it, the gannetwhale still has a covering of feathers, which are much denser and shorter than before, streamlining it and making it more aquadynamic. Below these dense feathers is a layer of blubber, both of which insulate it from the intense cold of the icy seas. The gannetwhale has a number of specialised adaptations to its marine existence. Its nostrils automatically close up when it dives, preventing it from breathing water, and it has glands above its eyes which secrete excess salt, a mineral the gannetwhale frequently ingests due to its diet of fish. Behaviour Gannetwhales are semiaquatic animals which are ungainly and clumsy on land, but swift predators in the water, where they can swim at up to 18 miles (30 kilometres) an hour, steering with their feet. They roost and nest on the land, going into the sea only to hunt, and, like their ancestors, are social animals, roosting in large groups. Gannetwhales breed in the summer, and lay a single egg, frequently nesting in large groups on remote islands. The egg, which takes a long time to hatch - incubation lasts well into the winter - is protected from the cold by being clutched to the underside of the mother's tail with her feet. When the egg hatches, the father fishes for food for the hatchling, as in Human era emperor penguins. The young gannetwhale also takes a long time to grow into an adult, but they live in tightly-knit family groups, and adults are protective of their young and their eggs. Ecology Gannetwhales hunt various kinds of fish and squid, and are completely safe from predators of their own in the sea. Although adults are too large and dangerous, with beaks capable of delivering serious wounds, to be threatened by apex predators such as snowstalkers when they are in a group, their eggs and young are vulnerable to predators, particularly as, unlike the marine mammals, gannetwhales must lay their eggs on the land. To avoid predators, gannetwhales nest on islands, but in cold enough winters, ice bridges provide access to predators, decimating gannetwhale populations. However, they can also defend themselves by regurgitating partially-digested fish and squid, which is too much for the sensitive noses of predators. Extinction The waning of the ice age and the warming of the planet causes the 5 million AD mass extinction, in which many animals adapted to freezing ice age conditions die out. The animals of icy Northern Europe are particularly vulnerable. Appearances In the documentary In "Return of the Ice", a hungry snowstalker challenges a group of nesting gannetwhales for their eggs, but is quickly repelled when one of them regurgitates food at her. In the manga In Chapter I, "North European Icefields," a pod of gannetwhales return to shore to find a juvenile being attacked by a snowstalker and her cub, which slip off the iceberg they're standing on, allowing the baby and its parents to escape into the sea. More gannetwhales are later seen breaching and hunting for fish underwater. In the animated series Major appearances A number of gannetwhales including Tooby, his mother, Beaker, and Doop appear in "Scared Safe". Tooby, a juvenile gannetwhale, leaves his friends to follow the Time Flyer, leading to he, Emily, Squibby, Ethan, and Luis being attacked by a snowstalker, which is scared off by Tooby and his mother regurgitating food. Minor appearances In "Snowstalker in a Strange Land", a flock of gannetwhales are briefly scanned by CG and Emily. At the very end of the episode, when Luis catches a fish from an ice hole, a gannetwhale leaps out of the hole and eats the fish off the line. Behind the scenes The original concept of what would become the gannetwhale was actually a giant penguin. However, DreamWorks SKG's lawyers objected to this, due to their similarity to two animals in Dougal Dixon's After Man, the vortex and the porpin. Although Dixon worked on The Future Is Wild, by that time, DreamWorks had brought the rights to After Man from him. Merchandise A 2'' long figurine of a gannetwhale was produced in Japan, alongside figurines of the megasquid, poggle, terabyte, toraton, carakiller, and ocean flish. Criticism The gannetwhales were criticized more than any other animal of 5 million AD (except the Spink) by viewers, who pointed out that 5 million years would not be nearly enough time for Gannets (or any other kind of flying birds, for that matter) to abandon flight and evolve into seal-like birds. Realistically, such drastic evolution would take dozens, in not hundreds millions of years. List of appearances *''The Future Is Wild'' **1x01. Welcome to the Future **1x02. Return of the Ice **''The Future Is Wild'' (US) *''The Future Is Wild: A Natural History of the Future'' *''The Future is Wild'' manga **01. North European Icefield *''The Future Is Wild'' animated series **1x20. Scared Safe **1x26. Snowstalker in a Strange Land (cameo) *''The Future Is Wild: The Living Book'' Gallery Documentary= FIW 1x2 Gannetwhales.png FIW 1x2 Gannetwhale placeholder.png FIW_1x2_Gannetwhale_swimming_pose.png FIW_1x2_Gannetwhale_egg.png FIW_1x2_Snowstalker_and_gannetwhales.png FIW_1x2_Gannetwhale_head.png |-|Promotional= Gannetwhale-600px.jpg Gannetwhale_banner.png Gannetwhale and snowstalker.jpg 5Mio_North_European_Ice.jpg |-|Cartoon= Gannetwhale_stealing_fish.png |-|Models= Gannetwhale and snowstalker DE.jpg Gannetwhale statue.png Gannetwhale statue 2.png Futuroscope fou-baleine.JPG |-|Merchandise= Future Is Wild figures.jpg Gannetwhale_figure.jpg In other languages References Navigation Category:Animals Category:Birds Category:Organisms of 5 million AD Category:Organisms of Europe Category:Organisms of the North European Ice Category:5 million AD